The Belgian tactician had initially been open to the switch as he gave the Soweto giants a deadline in May, but this reportedly deterred the club from pursuing his services.

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Chiefs then, albeit leaving it late, instead opted for former Ea Lla Koto mentor Giovanni Solinas, who has since been granted his work permit ahead of the start of the season.

Masehe, meanwhile, concedes it was a precarious time for the players when the rumours gained prominence after their Nedbank Cup triumph last season, but ultimately feels relieved that they can continue building their project with Eymael this season.

“[The rumours] might affect you a little bit but, you know, in football you have to adapt at all times because people come and go,” defended Masehe.

“We cannot be saying that, because now the coach is going to go, we’ll be worried we won’t [have a coach anymore].

“More especially us senior players, we’ve been through those kinds of situations before. We have to just try and adapt and make sure the younger ones understand exactly what’s at stake because, at the end of the day, no one is bigger than the team.

“But, it was going to be a problem [losing Eymael] because we had already built this foundation with him, and we want to continue building towards the roof and finish the project to see how many rewards we can reap from that.”